hero class idea - the mimic

hi guys, i had a crazy idea for a new hero class yesterday, so i wrote it out as best i could - what do you guys think?

the mimic is a class of mystery, magic, shadow and cunning - a combination of a warlock, mage and rogue. using a combination of mana for magic abilities and energy for melee abilities.

the mimic only has a limited set of unique class specific abilities, but the greatest skill of a mimic, is the ability to copy up to 5 different spells/abilities from it's enemies or allies. the mimic steals abilities depending on the type of foe it is fighting. much like the druid spell symbiosis and the deathknight ability dark simulacrum.

against npc enemies, spells would be stolen based on the enemy type - beast/humanoid/elemental/dragonkin/undead etc and only last for a short duration, but in group content, mimics are able to copy spells from players in their group that persist until the group is disbanded, or the ability is replaced with another.

the spell copied would also be based on class spec, but the mimic can copy spells from whichever classes he chooses for whichever category he chooses, so for example, in a 5 man dungeon, the mimic is teamed up with a brewmaster monk, ret paladin, fire mage and resto shaman.

the mimic, deciding to play as a melee dps copies:
repentance - from the paladin
spinning crane kick - from the monk
blackoutkick - from the monk
avenging wrath - from the paladin
cauterize - from the mage

halfway through the dungeon, on a particularly melee unfriendly boss.

the mimic changes tact and goes for ranged dps, he copies:
sheep - from the mage
blizzard - from the mage
lightning bolt - from the shaman
tigereye brew - from the monk
divine shield - from the paladin

on the last boss of the dungeon, the healer is struggling to keep everyone alive

the mimic, a master in flexibility, changes role again by copying new abilities:
sheep - from the mage, useful during the encounter
healing rain - from the shaman
healing wave - from the shaman
ascendance - from the shaman
fortifying brew - from the monk

any abilities copied from other classes, work as the basic form of the spell, unaffected by class specific talents or bonuses (so frostbolts stolen from a mage would slow the target, but would not apply any extra slow effects or fingers of frost procs - crusader strike stolen from paladins would not apply seals, or do any seal damage) instead the extra damage, for example a paladins seal would do, is generated from mastery on the mimics gear. i would be really tempted to itemise the mimic around spellplate, with intellect as the main stat (powering all abilities), mastery (powering all stolen abilties) and haste increasing energy regen/reducing cast times.

as the mimic has such flexibility through copying abilities, i'd remove specialisations from the class. the balance between roles would be decided on the fly, dependant on the abilities you have copied - requiring it's status as a hero class and not a choice for beginners. (you could also expand on the copied abilities so if you wanted to tank and copied kegsmash from a BrM monk, you would also copy complimentary abilities such as guard, taunt and flamebreath.)

with roots in the warlock, mage and rogue classes, similar abilities could easily find their way into the mimics repertoire, enabling tanking and healing roles, without the need to respec. evasion, soullink, etc

i'd also be inclined to start at level 70 with it and level up to 80 through a class specific starter questline (like the deathknight) on a new piece of debris discovered to be floating near outland in the twisting nether.

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so yea, as i only thought of this yesterday, this is a really rough outline, but with how homogenised the classes are these days, i figured you could get away with something like this. it'd obviously need some real thought put into it as balancing would be a nightmare, but for the sake of discussion, would you play it if you had the chance?

also, i've only gone with 5 copied abilities, but that could easily increase as there is only really 2 offensive abilities copied, AoE and single target - you could add a second or even third single target ability, a DoT, a cleave and probably some others i've not considered.

I actually had this concept as a spec in my Bard class concept. Check it out. The link is in my sig.

interesting, i must've missed that thread... you've obviously put a lot more thought into your bard than i have here, i just thought the idea of stealing abilities from other players and tailoring your rotation to the strengths and weaknesses of the abitities you had copied would add some nice variety

You say that you'd decide which abilities to copy immediately, and can do so during boss fights... But how would that even be possible? Think of how you'd actually play that sort of class. Does a window pop up and you scroll through to select which abilities you copy? Imagine doing that during a fight. How could you streamline this to match what we already expect of a regular raid boss fight?

The idea is nice, but you're going to need to solve the issues of implementation before it'll actually work. Not to mention the balance issues, as you touch upon.

You say that you'd decide which abilities to copy immediately, and can do so during boss fights... But how would that even be possible? Think of how you'd actually play that sort of class. Does a window pop up and you scroll through to select which abilities you copy? Imagine doing that during a fight. How could you streamline this to match what we already expect of a regular raid boss fight?

The idea is nice, but you're going to need to solve the issues of implementation before it'll actually work. Not to mention the balance issues, as you touch upon.

the abilities copied from other classes would be dependant on the other classes spec and the category of the spell, so it would be pre-defined like symbiosis is, but centred on core abitlities rather than utility.

stealing/copying abilities from bosses/mobs would be dependant on their mob type and spellset, as well as the spell catagory.

you could also add some kind of resource system that limits how frequently you can change abilities during combat, as you could clip cooldowns if it wasn't managed effectively. outside of combat, i'd say you could switch around as often as you like, but during combat, you rely on your resource.

as i said, i only thought of this yesterday, so still fleshing out a lot of bits - it was mostly just a concept as opposed to a fully realised class suggestion

It does sound like a very interesting idea at first, but my first thoughts were that it wouldn't be very efficient on it's own...say if the player wanted to solo content or something similar...and that balancing it would be nearly impossible. There would be way too many factors to take into account.

That'd also be a really interesting one to try to fit into a "choose your dungeon role" because they could be anything during any encounter. Then if they could also be melee or ranged or heals or tank...how would you figure their stat distributions?

interesting, i must've missed that thread... you've obviously put a lot more thought into your bard than i have here, i just thought the idea of stealing abilities from other players and tailoring your rotation to the strengths and weaknesses of the abitities you had copied would add some nice variety

No worries bro. I always enjoyed the concept, and I thought it fit in well with the bard class.

My version would allow the spec to copy Humanoids, Dragonkin, Mechanical, Beasts,etc. I also had the abilities act like glyphs or talents in that they can't be switched in combat or during PvP. I also limited the mimic abilities to 4-6 spots on your action bar.

Broadening the pool of potential abilities allows the mimic to do their thing w/o having to rely on other players. I do think it works better as a spec than an entire class.

Sounds like terrible design, and I'd much rather never see anything like this. Just my view, but, it is always nice to see what some people think of when it comes to new classes, I find it very interesting.

No, Blue Mages learn enemy skills permanently, they don't switch. They would also learn skills from NPCs only, not from other players.
Theoretically an interesting option, but in the end it would wind up being little different from a class that just learns these innately.

That aside, i can only approve of this if enabling the class requires you and 3 of your friends to swim down a submerged tower and engage a legendary mimic, then do nothing for 30 seconds.